The Post-Impressionism style had two main focuses: form and personal expression. But constant through paintings was the emphasis of color driving all work. Paul Cézanne pioneered the use of form in his paintings, illustrated in Mont Sainte-Victoire. The colors focus on permanence and the harsh southern Italian lighting simplifies buildings and forms. An extensive landscape is depicted but has an overall flat composition as a result of the structured lines of the visible brushstrokes. The scene is an abstraction as you’re constantly reminded of that fact that the scene is a painting when viewing it. Cézanne’s Scene from Bibernus Quarry is another painting that is abstract in subject matter. The think black outlines (often in box shapes) contribute to giving the scene a flat quality, along with the regularly visible brushstrokes.

Vincent Van Gogh painted artwork with the personal expression themes of Post-Impressionism. His painting The Potato Eaters works to illustrate the importance of all classes of people. The continued theme of flat compositions and the earthy tones of the painting shine a light on a scene that is represented as everyday and overlooked. Night Café is an extremely personal painting as Van Gogh’s self expression influences the solitary and alienating mood. The view of the scene from above was influenced by Japanese prints, giving viewers a new vantage point. The use of color conveys Van Gogh’s feelings, with red walls closing in contrasting with the central green pool table pulling away. Finally, Starry Night was painted by Van Gogh in the year before his death while he was committed in an asylum. He was struggling with his mental health and painted a study of the stars above a sleeping town, which he wrote could be reached through death. The thick application of paint makes the stars appear to shimmer and is reached for by two objects – the church steeple (religion) and a Cyprus tree (nature). A painting that once seemed to emit a tranquility to me now has a more desperate feel as it reaches to the sky for freedom.